Because of travel difficulties, just 13 nations accepted an invitation to take part. Only four nations from Europe - France, Belgium, Romania and Yugoslavia - said yes, and all except the Yugoslavs boarded the Italian liner Conte Verde at Villefranche-sur-Mer in France for the long voyage across the Atlantic.

The teams trained on the boat during the two-week trip before joining Yugoslavia and the nine other South American teams in Montevideo.

The 13 competitors were split into four groups with the winners contesting the semi-finals.

Yugoslavia did the best of the Europeans nations by reaching the last four when they were soundly beaten 6-1 by Uruguay. In the other semi-final Argentina overhwhelmed the United States by an identical scoreline.

Uruguay, backed by a partisan crowd of 90,000 in the Centenario Stadium, beat the Argentines 4-2 in the final after being 2-1 down at half-time.

A public holiday was declared in Uruguay, but in Buenos Aires hostile fans attacked the Uruguayan embassy.